


Secret

by matbaerzal



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:34:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26542999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matbaerzal/pseuds/matbaerzal
Summary: 5 times you kept TK a secret + the one time you didn’t
Relationships: Travis Konecny/Reader
Kudos: 12





	Secret

> **I**

When you started working for the Philadelphia Flyers’ social media team, you didn’t know what to expect. Falling head over heels for a loud, annoying shit-stirrer definitely wasn’t one of them.

At first, you had brushed off his advances, thinking he flirted with everybody like that. But after a while, you noticed Travis never really paid any attention to other girls, so you agreed to give him a chance. Now you’ve been dating for over three months and things are great - couldn’t be better.

Well, except for one thing; you haven’t told your family about him yet.

You didn’t know how much longer you could keep your secret. You were dating a hockey player. Your older sister _hates_ hockey players. Avery had dated her fair share of them, and it never ended well. One of her key life advices for you was literally “never date hockey players”.

When you were ten and she was sixteen you had to watch her cry whilst eating ice cream, swearing to herself she would never date another guy again, especially not someone who played hockey. Then when you were fourteen she fell for another hockey player, and things looked great for a while until he moved away. They had tried to do the whole long-distance thing, but one day when your sister went to surprise him she found him with another girl.

That’s when she made you promise to never fall for a hockey player, _ever._ You looked up to your sister more than anyone else, so you agreed, even though you didn’t really know what you were agreeing to. You didn’t think about it, and none of the guys you liked were even interested in the sport. They’d always find it a bit funny when you told them hockey was your favorite sport, but having die-hard Flyers fans as parents, you didn’t have much of a say in the matter.

When you got the offer to work for them, you didn’t hesitate to accept for a second. You’d obviously hoped to get it when you applied, but you never thought you actually would. The promise you made to your sister rarely ever crossed your mind, only when your sister would make a joke, that wasn’t really a joke, about it. You didn’t even think about it when you were suddenly surrounded by professional hockey players, some of which were your age - some of which, if we’re being honest, were very nice to look at.

Travis was loud, that’s the first thing you thought when you met him. You already knew about his on-ice persona, so you weren’t too surprised at that. Looking back you shouldn’t have been surprised at how blatant he was about liking you, but _my god_ did he know how to make the butterflies in your stomach go wild.

“It’s not one of the players, is it?” was your sister’s first reaction when you told her that there was a guy at work you liked. Your eyes went wide as you tried to come up with an answer. “Please tell me it’s not, I don’t need to pick up the pieces when he inevitably breaks your heart,” she said when you didn’t reply. You had every intention of telling her, but after that how could you? You ended up brushing off her words, telling her that it was one of the equipment guys, but that probably nothing would come out of it.

> **II**

You hadn’t told Travis about your sister’s hatred for hockey players yet. How do you even bring that up? Do you sit down and have a serious conversation with him, or do you just tell him casually and laugh about it? You could think about the how and the when for as long as you wanted but life doesn’t always go the way we want it to.

Travis’ hand is in yours across the table at your favorite café as he takes a sip from his coffee. “I’m surprised you’re not sick of me yet,” you say and he smirks against the brim of the cup. You’d just spent every day together for a bit over a week. You came with the Flyers whilst they were on a roadie to help with filming a couple of Mic’d Up videos, and now you both finally had a day off. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” he says, and well, _at least he’s self-aware,_ you think. You can’t help but scoff out a laugh. He turns your hand around so your palm is facing up, his fingers drawing patterns absentmindedly as takes another sip before he puts his cup back down.

“Surprisingly enough I’ve gotten used to your non-stop talking” you tease. “Oh, have you?” his eyebrows shoot up, you tilt your head to the side contemplating your own words, “well, more like learned to tune them out” you smirk and he laughs in surprise, shaking his head, the softness of his touch on your hand contrasting your constant chirping.

He’s about to open his mouth again when you get distracted by the bell over the door, turning your head instinctively towards the noise. Only to see your sister walk in, you’re frozen in your spot for a second before doing the first thing you can think of. Tearing your hand away from his and ducking your head under the table, hoping that the booth you’re sat in gives you enough cover.

Your plan isn’t well thought out, because the second Travis sees your actions, he’s letting out a loud confused laugh, you try to quietly shush him, hoping that he hasn’t attracted the attention of your sister. You can’t see her from under the table, and checking where she was is the last thing you’re planning to do.

Travis ducks his head under the table too. “What are you doing?” he says, too loud for your liking, making you shush him again. He repeats himself, whispering, as he rolls his eyes at you. “Is the woman that just came in still here?” you say, ignoring his question. He furrows his brows, but entertains you by lifting his head, checking. Soon after his head reappears under the table, “yeah, she’s waiting for her coffee” he says, obviously confused.

“What are you doing under the table?” he whispers again, “just act normal” you ignore him again, and you can hear his thoughts with the look he gives you. _You want me to act normal? You’re the one hiding under a table._ You know it’s stupid, but you’re committed to sticking it out, not ready yet to have that conversation with your sister. Especially not in the café you come to every week.

Travis sits back up and you’re dying to peek your head up, to see if there are any eyes on the two of you, but you wait. Concentrating on nervously playing with your hands instead. You wait until you hear the bell again and Travis peeks his head under the table, “she left” he says, and you can’t tell if he’s still amused or not. When you lift your head you turn your head to scan the café, your sister nowhere to be seen.

When you turn your head back towards Travis he’s got an expectant look on his face. _How do I explain this one?_ you think. You clear your throat, “that uh- that was my sister” you say, and the confusion on his face just grows. “Do you have a sister I don’t know about or something?” he asks, “because last I remember, the two you are really close” he scratches the back of his neck.

You avoid his gaze for a second, thinking about how to phrase your next words. “She hates hockey players,” you say, flushing with embarrassment. “What?” he laughs, you roll your eyes at yourself, “she made me promise not to date hockey players and I know-” you’re interrupted by his laugh and you can’t help but laugh yourself. “It’s _so_ _dumb_ ,” you say hiding your face in your hands.

You hear him slide out of his side of the booth, then he’s next to you with his arm around your shoulder. “I’m your dirty little secret, eh?” he teases, using his other hand to remove your hands from your face. You shake your head with an embarrassed grin on your face, when you turn to look at him you don’t even get a word in before his lips are on yours. You don’t hesitate to kiss him back as your hand comes up to play with the ends of his hair.

“You’re not mad?” you murmur against his lips. He leans back, “it’s too funny for me to be mad” he smirks at you and you playfully hit his chest. “You gotta tell her eventually though, I’m planning on sticking around for a while,” he says casually, and you should be used to the butterflies in your stomach by now, but here you are.

> **III**

You had to admit you were a little nervous about going to a game with your family. It wouldn’t be the first time they came with you since you started working for the Flyers, but you hadn’t taken them since things got more serious with Travis. It was the second half of a home and home against the Penguins, they’d lost the first game so it was even more important to get a win tonight.

You find your seats easily as your parents, sister, and uncle, who’d invited himself, all follow after you. One of the perks to your job was that your family finally shut up about your love life because they were too busy talking about the fact that you were working for _the_ Philadelphia Flyers. Your uncle had swapped out the “how’s the love life?” conversation, with “how’s work?”, and you were more than happy with the change.

You were sat near the glass, close to the Flyers penalty box, and you were just hoping that Travis would behave during the game. You ended up with the seat closest to the box, and you’re not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing - Avery was in the seat next to you.

He’d located you in the crowd easily, giving you a wink as he flipped a puck over the glass to one of the kids next to you watching the warmups. You gave him a stern look to which he grinned, shaking his head at you as he skated away. You look over to your sister, she was busy scrolling on her phone. Your dad and uncle were engrossed in a conversation and your mom was grinning at the kid freaking out over a puck. You sigh out in relief as you don’t think any of them noticed the little exchange between you and Travis.

To your delight, Travis was actually behaving, at least to his standards. He was making good plays and stuck to simply chirping other players. You almost couldn’t believe that you’d made it to the third period without raising any suspicions. The Flyers have a one-goal lead, and you’re all on the edge of your seat as for the last 2 minutes the Flyers haven’t been able to get to the offensive zone.

There are only three minutes left of regulation and the Penguins are moments away from pulling their goalie. Travis steps out on the ice as the Flyers make a quick change, and the Penguins make another push as the Flyers desperately defend to keep their lead.

Then, the referee blows the whistle, you’re all confused about what the call could be, as you didn’t see anything worth calling, you’re not even sure which team’s getting punished. You look over and see Travis shoving at one of the Penguins with a sour look on his face as the ref skates to the middle of the ice. “Number 11, Philadelphia, 2 minutes for slashing” he calls and the whole arena loudly disagrees with the call.

You know you should be worried about the bad call. You know you should be worried about the Flyers having to kill a penalty with less than 3 minutes left. But all you can think about as Travis skates to the box, yelling at the ref, is that he’s about to sit next to you and your family for a full 2 minutes, hopefully anyways.

He rips his helmet off in frustration and your heartbeat speeds up as he meets your gaze, his eyes stay on you as he sits down. The rest of the crowd, your family included is watching the replay, loudly booing when it’s confirmed to them that Travis didn’t do anything wrong. “That’s fucking bullshit” you hear your dad yell, Travis looks over your shoulder, smirking for the first time since the call was made.

Even your sister scoffs loudly at the call, and Travis looks back at you and sees the slight panic in your eyes - he shakes his head at you. When he raises his hand to wave, you turn your head back to see your family looking at you. Your dad and uncle raise their beers to him, your mom gives a small wave back, but Avery looks over at you briefly with a confused look before hesitantly waving back. Then, Travis looks away, focusing his attention on the ice as the puck drops again, his head back in the game - you lower your tensed shoulders at that.

Your sister’s about to open her mouth, but the crowd distracts her as Carter makes an amazing save. You’ve dodged the bullet for now, but you know she’ll have a couple of questions after the game. The clocks ticking slowly as the Flyers are hanging on to their lead by a thin thread. You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding as Travis’ penalty runs out and he hits the ice. With twenty-seven seconds left Travis gets a stretch pass from Kevin.

He’s determined as he crosses the blueline, only one defenseman to get past. Twenty seconds on the clock, he shoots the puck at the net, but it bounces off the goalie’s pad towards him again. As the puck connects with his stick you know he’ll get it in the back of the net before it even happens. You’re on your feet in a matter of seconds along with the crowd. The butterflies in your stomach go wild once again as he looks at you from across the ice, biting your lip to contain your smile.

The last few seconds of the game go by in a blur, and before you know it you’re walking away from your seats and towards the parking lot. “That Konecny’s something else, isn’t he?” your dad says, and as if on cue your phone rings. _Speak of the devil_ \- Travis’ name lights up your screen as you slow your pace down, your family walking ahead of you.

“Wanna come meet me?” he asks, still out of breath a little. “ _Oh_ \- _uuhh_ ” you struggle to find your words, looking at Avery before he interrupts you. “Right, yeah,” he says “that’s a bad idea,” he continues, a little disappointed. “I’ll see you tomorrow though,” you say, it comes out more like a question. “Yeah” he sighs out, and like that he hangs up, leaving you feeling a little guilty.

You catch up with your family again and your sister slides next to you, matching your steps. “Who was that?” she eyes you, “just someone from work” you half-lie. She hums, not quite buying it, but she still drops it as your uncle turns to you, asking if you got to hang out with the players a lot.

> **IV**

Waking up, feeling the warmth of Travis’ body pressed against your back was something you knew you’d never get tired of. His arm around your waist, lips kissing up your neck, humming as he feels you stir awake. He smiles against your skin as you try your best to stretch, despite his grip on you. He finally lets you go a little as you turn in his arms, only to lock you back in place when you’re face to face.

“Morning,” he says, the gruffness in his voice in the morning sending shivers down your spine. His lips find your neck again, “Hi” you laugh out as his facial hair tickles your skin, and he hums again at the sound of your laugh, moving his hands down to try to tickle your sides.

You hold back a laughs as you grip his hands before he can do too much damage, “why don’t you put those to better use?” you say, biting your lip. “Oh, yeah?” he arches his brow and you nod before he gives you a quick kiss. “How can they be of better use?” he teases you, and you refrain from rolling your eyes, not feeling like being a brat, at least not yet.

You lead one of his hands between your legs, and he groans as his eyes darken when he feels how wet you already are. “You could help me out with that” you smirk adding a “please” for good measure. He kisses you again, deeper this time as he runs his fingers through your folds, you hum into the kiss at the feeling. “Gladly” he speaks against your lips before he slides a finger into you, his thumb quickly finding your clit.

He guides you to lay fully on your back and you feel his hard cock against your thigh as he moves his body between them. Your body tingles as his lips leave wet kisses down your neck, his finger moving so slow, his thumb barely putting any pressure on your clit, teasing you. You whine out as his tongue lazily flicks across your nipple.

You grip his hair, pulling, “Travis” you moan out a plea, but he ignores you. You huff out in frustration as his thumb stops moving entirely, you feel another finger tease your entrance, but you’re not patient enough for that - you know he knows it. But he’s enjoying torturing you, the twitch of his cock against your thigh anytime you whine out is evidence of that.

“Just fuck me, please, Travis” you speak out, and he grins against your skin, his fingers leaving you, he sucks them into his mouth as he moves to lean over you. “All you had to do was ask, baby” he winks - one hand finding his length whilst the other presses your leg to your stomach.

If you think he’s done teasing you, then you didn’t really know Travis, but it doesn’t stop you from whining again as he runs his cock through your folds, teasing your entrance, brushing by your clit. As you buck your hips desperately he throws you a look that says “behave”. You huff out as you try to stay still and he smirks before he slides his tip in, staying there for a painful moment.

You’re about to whine out again as he slides the rest of the way in, a gasp leaving your mouth instead. “Are you going be a good girl and stay still?” he murmurs, pinning your arms over your head, one hand holding them there as the other goes back to rest on your thigh. You bite your lip as he slides almost all the way out again.

“Maybe” you challenge him, a moan following soon after as he thrusts his hips firmly. Despite your words he lets go of your hands, his hand finding your throat instead, though he doesn’t apply any pressure as he leans down to kiss you - his hips finally finding a steady pace. You moan into the kiss and bite his lip when he tries to pull away, your fingers thread through his hair making him groan.

Unable to keep from smirking you let go of his lip and before you know it your hands are pinned above your head again as his thrusts get rougher. “I’m going to have to buy ropes if you don’t start behaving” he warns, his words alone bring you closer to the edge as you clench around him. Travis notices your reaction like he always does, “you like that, huh?” you can only moan out in reply.

He presses your thigh firmer to your chest - your back arches, fingers gripping the air, desperate for something to hold on to, toes curling as his cock hits your g-spot perfectly. He lets go of your hands again, only this time he brings them to his hair before he moves his hand down your body, pressing his thumb to your clit.

You’re surprised you’re not pulling his hair out as he fucks you relentlessly, you mean to moan his name but it comes out incoherent. The hand on your thigh slides to rest on the bed next to you as he leans down to capture your lips with his. He feels your pussy flutter around his cock and he groans into your mouth. “Come with me, baby,” he says, and your body obeys as you fall over the edge.

He follows soon after, his forehead pressed against yours as you try to catch your breaths. You can’t help but giggle, still feeling euphoric, he nuzzles his head into your neck, smiling against your skin. He leaves a soft kiss before he’sbiting on your neck as your phone rings. You turn your head towards the noise, “ignore it” Travis groans and you don’t argue as he licks the skin he just bit into before giving it a soft kiss.

His hands tickling down your sides, sending shivers down your spine - phone call forgotten. Then he’s leaving a trail of kisses down your body, his cock sliding out of you making you take in a breath.

At first, you think he’s just cleaning you up with his tongue, whimpering as his tongue connects with your sensitive clit. You should have known that his arms would sneak around your thighs, locking you in place as his tongue continues to lap at your pussy.

You’re just starting to feel your body tingle again when there’s a knock on your door. Your eyes shoot open as Travis ignores the knock, you whimper out when there’s another loud knock. It takes everything in you to push him away. He rolls over onto his back, groaning as you give him an apologetic look. You stumble a bit as you stand up, legs like jelly thanks to the guy laying in your bed, now wearing a smirk on his face. You wrap your robe around you, glaring at him as he laughs at you when you struggle to walk out the room.

You close the bedroom door behind you, you’re trying to sort out the mess that your hair definitely is, as quickly as possible when there’s another more impatient knock on your door. When you open the door to find your sister standing there you have to actively stop yourself from slamming the door in her face in panic. “Hey, what are you doing here?” you say, trying your best to hide the stress you’re feeling.

Avery looks you up and down. “I can’t stay, I just need to borrow your kitchen machine, mine broke last week,” she says pushing past you, letting herself in, looking around your apartment. “you couldn’t have called?” you say with a blush. “I did call, like a few minutes ago,” she says confused and you vaguely remember your phone calling earlier before Travis told you to ignore it.

“ _Oh,_ ” you say, quickly moving to the kitchen to find the kitchen machine to get her out of your hair as soon as possible. You grab it from the cupboard along with anything else she might possibly need. “Did I interrupt something, is there someone here?” she says, the smirk on her face audible. You pause a bit in your search, “no, what makes you think that?” you instantly regret asking.

You struggle a bit to hold everything as you dump it in her arms. She laughs in surprise as you practically push her towards the door. “Just look like you’ve been _busy_ , is all” she gives you another once over.

“Need anything else?” you do your best to ignore her words, she takes a quick look at the items in her arms, “no, I think that’s good” she laughs. Her eyes travel over your apartment one more time as if she’s looking for clues. Luckily you and Travis had been too desperate to get to the bedroom when you came in last night, so any clue of him here is restricted to your bedroom - shoes and all.

She purses her lips when she doesn’t find anything, squinting her eyes at you as you give her an innocent smile. “Thanks for this” she finally says, lifting the items in her arms a little as she walks out the door. “I’ll see you soon, yeah?” she says over her shoulder as you stand in the doorway, making sure she leaves. “Yeah” you call out after her, sighing out when she gets into the elevator.

When you enter the bedroom again, Travis is fully dressed, sitting on the edge of the bed. “How was your sister?” he says, there’s a slight bitterness to his voice as he says it - you know he didn’t mean it to come across that way from the look he gives you. You walk over and move to straddle him - he lets you, but his hands don’t move to touch you like they normally do as he leans back on them.

“I’m sorry” you sigh out, running your hands up his torso, to loop them around his neck. “I’ll admit, It was cute and funny at first, but I’m getting a bit tired of this,” he sighs. You bite your lip and avert his eyes, feeling guiltier by the second. “I’ll tell her soon, I promise,” you say and your eyes find his again. He leans forward again, brushing his nose against yours as his hands find your waist, pulling you even closer.

You close your eyes as you feel his breath on your lips. His lips softy touch yours and you feel him smile into the kiss as your fingers thread through his hair. “I wasn’t lying when I said I’m sticking around for a while, you know” he murmurs, and you see the sincerity in his eyes when you meet his gaze. Your whole body’s warm as you run your fingers through his hair - “yeah, I know” you smile.

> **V**

You had to stay in Philly for the next two weeks, a group of interns had just been hired and you’d been tasked with training them. On top of that, you still had to do your normal tasks, like going through logged footage, editing a few videos, checking audio levels, then color-correcting, and so on. After two weeks, and then some, of long days, late nights, and barely any quality time with Travis - you couldn’t begin to describe how content you were to be snuggled up next to him on his couch.

Just when you think nothing could possibly ruin the moment, your phone rings.

When you see your sister’s name on the screen, you tense up. Travis notices the change in you and when he peeks at your screen he sighs out, he removes his arm from around your shoulder before getting up from the couch. He walks over to the kitchen, shoulders slumped.

You take one last glance at Travis before hesitantly answering the call. You’d taken the step to tell your sister you were seeing someone - even went as far as to say his name’s Travis. You meant to tell her the whole truth, you really did, but you chickened out last minute.

_“C’mon, give me something!” She says before her eyes widen as if she’s realized something. “Is it the equipment guy you told me about?”. “No, no” you shut her down, “it’s not” and you think, well it kind of is equipment guy but he never really was an equipment guy to begin with. “As long as it’s not one of the players,” she says jokingly, but you know her and she’s serious when she says that._

_And you swear you’re about to bite the bullet and just tell her, it’s on the tip of your tongue. You’ve even prepared this speech on how great Travis is and that you’ve never been happier - but she goes into a rant about her hockey player ex, well one of them anyway, and you close your mouth and shrink down in your seat. As much as you love her, she has a bad habit of making things about her._

_“But tell me about your man” she encourages after taking a deep breath from going on and on for a couple of minutes. So you tell her everything, everything that wouldn’t reveal his occupation anyways, and she listens with a grin on her face. She seems truly happy for you, but you still don’t have the guts to tell her that one last thing._

Your phone call is short, she just wanted to know if you wanted to come for dinner sometime next week. The silence is deafening as Travis walks back from the kitchen. He stands next to the couch, arms crossed. “You still haven’t told her?” he questions you. “I did tell her, but-” you say “but, what?” he interrupts you, a hint of exasperation on his face, “either you told her or you didn’t” he continues, taking a deep breath.

You stand up and reach out to him, but he shies away. “I just didn’t say you play hockey” you mumble, but he hears you and he doesn’t shy away when you reach for him again. “I know I should have just told her, and I could stand here and come up with excuses as to why I didn’t, but that wouldn’t do any good,” you say, he does nothing to help as you uncross his arms and bring them to your waist - but he doesn’t do anything to move them either as your hands find his shoulder.

“I’m telling her on Tuesday, I’m going over for dinner at her place” you promise him. Your sister would just have to get over her biased hatred for hockey players. Every other detail you’d given her about Travis had made her smile grow. She had a gleam in her eyes when she told you how happy she was for you, so why should the fact that his job happens to be one that she associates with her failed relationships ruin it?

“How are you going to tell her?” he says, snapping you out of your thoughts, not quite trusting you. You don’t blame him for being unsure, and you’re not going to waste time defending yourself either. “I have a plan,” you say, biting your lip and Travis arches his brow, interested to hear more.

> **VI**

“Are you _sure_ this is a good idea?” Travis says as he puts the car in park. “Nope” you laugh, unbuckling your seatbelt before moving your hand to the door handle. You turn towards Travis, “she’ll love you” you say, but it ends up sounding more like a question.

You can tell he doesn’t quite believe you by the look on his face. “She’ll have to get used to you at least” you tease, to try to lighten the mood, “I’m planning on keeping you around for a while, you know” you continue, winking at him before finally opening the door and stepping out - figuring the sooner you get this over with the better.

You wait in front of the car with your hand out for him to take. When you feel his hand in yours you take a look at him before making your way to your sister’s door. You’re not sure if you took his hand to comfort him, or if it was purely self-indulgent, but the moment he squeezes it - you relax.

Without even bothering to knock, you open the door to let yourself in, dragging Travis with you. “Hey, Avery” you shout, you can hear she’s busy in the kitchen. “Hello” she barely pokes her head into the hallway, the sound of pans clattering following soon after. You don’t think she noticed Travis stood behind you. You give him a shrug as you remove your jacket, hanging it next to the door, taking off your shoes before making your way down the hallway to the kitchen.

You look behind you to see Travis following after you, he gives you a small smile but his eyes tell you he’s seconds away from pushing you along if you don’t walk faster. You finally round the corner into the kitchen, Travis moving to stand behind you with a hand on the small of your back. Your sister’s back is turned to you as she’s doing some finishing touches to whatever dish she’s making.

Just like she always does she’s made way too much, which is one of the reasons you’d decided to bring Travis without telling her. You clear your throat to get her to turn around, “just take a seat, I’ll be right over” she says, her back still turned to you. You look over your shoulder to Travis, who just looks amused by your frustrated expression. You turn your head back toward Avery, “I hope it’s ok I brought someone,” you say louder than you intended to.

She snaps around, almost knocking over the pan as she does so, her face lights up when she sees Travis. You don’t know if it’s the fact that he’s clean-shaven or that he’s not in hockey gear, but it doesn’t seem like she recognizes him straight away. She wipes her hands on her jeans, pacing over to the two of you.

Seeing her facial journey as she realizes who Travis is would be comical if you didn’t know what it meant. She’s nothing short of fuming as she looks at you, giving a stiff smile to him - “no of course not” she says, though even he, who’s never met her, can tell it’s forced.

Another reason why you decided to spring him on her is that she hates to cause a scene, “can I speak to you in the hallway, dear sister” she says, her voice so sweet it stings. You don’t get to answer before she’s pushing you away, “make yourself at home” she says - only your sister could make those words seem harsh.

Travis isn’t looking so amused anymore when you look back at him as your sister urges you back down the hallway. “When were you going to tell me that the Travis you’ve been seeing-” she lowers her voice to a whisper as she aggressively points to the kitchen “- is _Travis Konecny_?”. “Right now?” you say, dragging the words out trying to be funny, but she’s not having it - giving you a glare. 

“I hate you so much right now” she sighs, “I know,” you say, “please just give him the benefit of the doubt” you continue, peeking down the hallway. She groans before dragging you back into the kitchen.

Travis is stood by the counter checking out what she’s cooked up, ever the gentleman he turns to you when you enter the kitchen. “Everything looks lovely,” he says, quickly wiping his hand against his jeans, “I’m sorry I should have introduced myself earlier, I’m Travis, nice to finally meet you” he tries to charm her, extending his hand for her to shake.

She gives you a look and you know she’s a little annoyed at how nice he actually is. She grabs his hand, “Avery,” she says, short and to the point. “Need any help with anything?” Travis says as she lets go of his hand. She squints her eyes at him, “no, thanks” she says, and before she can say anything else you’re dragging Travis over to the dining table. You sit down next to each other, Travis scoots his chair a bit closer to yours.

“I’m-” you start, “no, don’t do that,” he interrupts you and you give him a quizzical look. “You have nothing to apologize for and if you think a sister with a cold shoulder’s going to scare me away, then I’m sorry, it’s going to take a lot more than that,” he says matter-of-factly. “Besides, I’ll have her laughing at my stupid jokes by the end of the night” he winks.

You can’t help but gape at him, you’re not sure how he does it, but day by day you fall more and more in love. Your instant reaction is to lean over and grab his t-shirt as you drag him in for a kiss - he smiles into the kiss, his hand squeezing your thigh. You break apart when you hear your sister clear her throat loudly, putting your plate down on the table in front of you, actively getting in between you and Travis. The two of you lean back in your seats, both of you now amused at her actions.

You sit quietly looking at each other, smiles on your faces as your sister comes over with a plate of her own, and a glass of wine almost full to the brim. You decide not to comment that she hasn’t offered you anything to drink. When she sits down, before anything else she takes a big gulp of the wine, gesturing to you that you can start eating as she firmly puts her glass down.

There’s a silent agreement between you and Travis that you’re both going to ignore the obvious fact that your sister is acting passive-aggressive. You share a look before Travis speaks up after tasting the food, “this is really nice, Avery” he says and you don’t hesitate to hum in agreement as you take another bite. At this point, your sister is done trying and the smile she throws Travis before she takes another sip of her wine wouldn’t have convinced anyone. 

When you all finish your food and the silence grows you can see your sister growing impatient. The silence is deafening, at least to her, and you can see she’s about to burst. Just as you look over at Travis when he gives your thigh another squeeze, she slaps her hand on the table.

“I just don’t get why you didn’t just tell me” she finally bursts.

You can’t help but look at her like she’s dumb, and you know it’s childish but you can’t stop yourself from throwing her words back at her. “Don’t date hockey players. As long as it’s not one of the players. I swear if it’s one of the players-” you see her face fall as you speak, you feel bad for Travis, who’s sat next to you basically twiddling his thumbs now.

“So you felt like you couldn’t tell me, because-” she trails off, looking every bit as guilty as you’ve felt whenever you lied about Travis. “I’m not you, Avery. And every hockey player isn’t like your exes” you sigh. “When I told you about Travis you were so happy for me, so why does that have to change?” you continue.

“You know I hate it when you lecture me” she sighs, covering her face, but there’s a hint to a smile in her voice. “Is that you telling me I’m right?” you smirk looking over at Travis, who’s looking at you with so much love in his eyes you can’t help but blush. Just then your sister picks her head back up and _really_ looks at the two of you for the first time.

One thing was you telling her that you’ve never been happier, but seeing it with her own eyes, just how happy and in love you are - that hit her differently. And as much as she might hate to admit it, the two of you look cute together. She snaps out of her trance as you look back at her.

“Yeah,” she sighs out and you arch your brow at her in confusion, “you’re right” she admits defeat. Finally smiling for a second before her face turns serious again, “I’m keeping my eyes on you, though” she points at Travis, “you’re on thin ice” she jokes, but like always it’s not actually a joke, and you roll your eyes at her.

Travis puts his hands up, “I expect nothing less from you, but your sister’s very capable of taking care of herself” Travis smiles, putting his hands back down. “She’s quite _the_ _catch_ ” he smirks and you refrain from punching him, and try not to laugh at his stupid joke.

You end up sitting on the couch talking, time passing you by - you tell your sister how stressed you were when you took her and your family to the game, and she gasps in realization.“That’s why you waved? And you’re the one that called her after the game?” she says, more to herself than anyone else.

Travis has his arm around you, your hand is on his thigh as your sister tells him about the one time she went fishing that went horribly wrong. “So I was holding the fishing rod, and as I was casting it I managed to let go completely and it just went _flying”_ she laughs, gesturing her hands as she speaks.

“At least you didn’t get your sibling on the hook” Travis laughs without explaining. You both let out a confused laugh. “I was, what eight years old? and went to cast, but the hook caught in my brother’s ear” he chuckles, you and your sister look at each other, mouths dropping before your sister throws her head back in a laugh, “luckily I wasn’t all that strong, and just dropped the rod when it wouldn’t go. I just heard my brother yelling behind me - my mom and dad couldn’t stop laughing.” By the end of his story, she’s wiping tears from her eyes from laughing.

Your face hurts from smiling as you look over at Travis who’s seconds away from punching the air in success. “I told you,” he mouths at you, and you lean in to kiss his cheek. He did indeed tell you he would get her to laugh by the end of the night.

“You don’t have any single friends do you?” she speaks up when she’s finally caught her breath, asking Travis - you shoot her a glare as he laughs. “Actually, I-” he starts, “Avery, no!” you point at her and she lets out an embarrassed giggle.


End file.
